Liberty Media Boosts Stake in News Corp.

Based on Wednesday's closing prices (Liberty says the transaction was executed Tuesday), Liberty forked over $699 million in nonvoting shares -- that is, 21.2 million nonvoting shares priced at $32.95 apiece -- plus the $693 million in cash, or a total of $1.39 billion. Divide that payment by the 48 million voting shares Liberty received in return, and it appears that Liberty bought them for $29 apiece -- a 24% discount to their Wednesday closing price of $38.

That's a good deal -- so good a deal that a media investor who ran through those numbers Wednesday night wondered whether the calculations overlooked some crucial relevant detail.

Indeed they might. As another sign of the deal's complexity, Liberty said it entered into a hedge on 38 million voting ADSs.

Liberty didn't respond to a call for comment Wednesday.

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